


Running Late With Half Your Makeup On

by ellipsometry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, F/M, Girl Direction, YouTuber Liam, YouTuber Louis, girl!Liam - Freeform, girl!Zayn, parts of this are so self-indulgent omg i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 13:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4102522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellipsometry/pseuds/ellipsometry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It only takes Louis a couple weeks to realize that Liam is the most infuriating kind of person there is.  Liam is perfect, and Louis has never been angrier in his life.</i>
</p><p>Or, Liam is a beauty guru, Louis is a comedy channel.  She tags him to do a YouTube challenge, and, well...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Running Late With Half Your Makeup On

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amaxingly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaxingly/gifts).



> OKAY so I'm an idiot and I'm posting this a day late because I wrote the due date down wrong, but I hope you still enjoy it!! I had a lot of fun with the prompt, I've always wanted to write a YouTube AU!
> 
> title is from "Greek Tragedy" by The Wombats!

“Now calling a meeting of the partners of Big Panyo HQ!”

“That’s… I still object to that name.”

“’S been over a year, Zayn.  We’re going for brand recognition here.”

Zayn sighs, resigned, Liam flashes her a brilliant smile, and Niall pulls out his clipboard.  The gang’s all here.

Niall licks the tip of his pen, “First order of business… _payno93_  is still a terrible username for a beauty channel.”

“I thought we were going for brand recognition,” Zayn smirks, “Although, agreed.”

“Hey!” Liam looks momentarily wounded, “I like it.  Makes me, er, authentic.”

Over the last year, Liam “payno93” Payne has enjoyed considerable success with her YouTube channel.  _Videos on makeup and beauty every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!_ She boasts a little over 8,000 subscribers, with the number growing every day.

“Second order of business, I got cleared to borrow the camera and such from the film department, so I can film you properly tonight.”

“Yes!” Liam’s not ashamed to own up to the fact that her channel is a pretty low-tech operation, but every once and a while Niall can rent proper equipment and editing software to give her the kind of flair she needs to compete with the bigger beauty channels.  Not to mention his penchant for charts and graphs makes it easy to see exactly what’s popular with her subscribers.

“Stats report,” he thumbs through some paper, “Your videos with Zayn are still your most popular – the smoky eye tutorial is up to almost 100,000 views.  I’d recommend integrating her into your  next video,” Niall looks over at Zayn with the kind of lovesick hopefulness that Liam knows Zayn finds just a tad bit endearing.

“Hmm… Nah.” Zayn absentmindedly checks her nails and Liam bites back a laugh.

“Also,” Niall forges on, “Since our last meeting, you’ve gained roughly 1,500 subscribers.”

“What the…”

“Fuck!”

“ _How_?!” Liam scrabbles for the clipboard and checks the printout of her follower count (with accompanying graph, of course.)  The huge spike occurs on Friday, the last time she uploaded a video.  However, Niall’s circled a point on the line graph chronologically a bit later than her upload, and written, in big red letters, THETOMMO.

When Liam looks up from the chart, Niall has a shit-eating grin on his face.

“You can’t mean…”

“What?” Zayn has been perked into action, and leers over Liam’s shoulder, while Niall cackles under his breath.

“That Tommo guy followed your channel a couple days ago, and then you had that huge spike in subscribers!”

Zayn smirks, “You mean that comedy guy Liam’s had a boner for, for like three years now?”

“ _Zayn!_ ” Liam hisses; although… she’s not wrong.

Niall just shrugs, “I woulda told you earlier, but I wanted to savor the surprise.”

“Wonder why he’s taken a sudden interest in makeup,” Zayn’s retreated back to her spot on Liam’s bed, curled up among the stuffed animals.

It’s true that Liam’s a bit head over heels for Louis “TheTommo” Tomlinson – she subscribed to him back in the day when his channel was completely made up of sporadic, minute-long videos of him pulling pranks on his always-unsuspecting friend Harry.  There was just something so… _open,_ so clever about him.  Liam envied the effortless humor he exhibited, secretly longed to be the kind of person he would find funny or interesting.

Nowadays The Tommo boasts more than half a million subscribers, gets flown out to special YouTube events, and has officially moved onto Liam’s “celebrity crush” chart, right under Justin Timberlake.  She’s subscribed to his main channel (reserved just for his more elaborate prank videos once a week), his daily vlogging channel, she follows him on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr –

“Earth to Liam,” Zayn says, laughing, “I can see your heart eyes from here.”

Liam doesn’t answer.  Assuredly, Louis subscribing to her had to be some kind of accident.  Even so, Liam’s never been the one to deny an opportunity when it’s presented to her.

Unlike most things in her life, Liam Payne got into makeup mostly on accident.

She didn’t even _wear_  makeup, not on a daily basis at least.  Her older sisters never really wore makeup, neither did her mom.  Liam was nineteen before she ever got a proper look at a mascara wand, ogling it like it was some sort of torture device.

“If you think that’s bad, you should see the lash curler,” Liam’s uni roommate Zayn laughs, perfectly ruby red lips pursing into a smile as she introduced Liam to the world of makeup.

Except, the thing about Liam is that she doesn’t know how to not be the biggest try-hard on the planet.  If she’s going to do something, she might as well do it all the way – that’s what she’s always figured.

Zayn looks proper alarmed when Liam goes out and spends more than 300 pounds on all the nicest quality makeup and brushes after going on a beauty-vlogger-watching-spree the night before.

“Even I don’t use all that stuff.”

“Why not?” Liam pouts, perfectly arranging her cup of makeup brushes like ikebana.

Zayn pops open her own eyeshadow palette, using her finger to smear dark purple across her crease.  Somehow it looks perfect, “Dunno.”

Nevertheless, Liam studies makeup like it’s actually one of her uni courses.  She really only makes herself up on the weekends, but she becomes quite good at it, and very popular around the dorms, giving makeovers to freshers free of charge.  When she finds herself in need of some extra cash, she gets a part-time job at Boots, quickly trading up to a summer job at Mac Cosmetics.

“You should make a YouTube channel!” a customer says once, after Liam gives her advice on which concealer to buy.

“Maybe I will,” Liam says.  And then she does.

 

+

 

It’s probably something about the earnestness of the title – “EASIEST winged eyeliner EVER! Super quick - 2 seconds!” that makes Louis click on payno93’s most recent make-up tutorial.

He’s been referring to her as that in his head – payno93 – despite the fact that he does actually know her name.  _Liam._   Odd name for a girl, he supposes.

Louis “The Tommo” Tomlinson, of modest YouTube fame and immodest imagined fame, was surprised on a Sunday evening to find that he had apparently subscribed to an up-and-coming beauty channel.

“Lottie…” he groans, resting his forehead on his hand.  He should’ve known she’d forget to log out of his account when she borrowed his laptop.  (“I just need to get this smoky eye right for the party tonight!  And my laptop isn’t working!”)  Louis’ pretty sure they have YouTube on smartphones now, but he was trying to be a good older brother.

The subscription is causing quite a stir among his own subscribers – _who is this/??? – r u dating her omg :(  – should’ve known the tommo was into girls like this – omg! I love her channel!!! – they’d probably be cute together, but i hate it_.  They’re a strange bunch, but they’re his strange bunch.

Figuring it’d be too cruel to unsubscribe, Louis thought he’d at least check out her channel.

Big mistake.  Huge.

Her most popular video is a smoky eye tutorial – the one Lottie had watched – and he fast forwards through most of it, watching just enough to see Liam introduce herself and her friend Zayn.  Just enough for Louis to be alarmed at how strikingly gorgeous both of them are.

And, because Louis doesn’t really know what’s good for him, he clicks on her most recent video, the “super quick” eyeliner tutorial, posted the day before.

The set-up is about the same as her other video, except now Liam is alone and completely bare-faced, without a hint of makeup.  Louis probably should have expected that, since the entire point of a makeup tutorial is to see how someone got from Point A to Point B, but he’s not prepared for her to be as equally striking without makeup as she was with it on.  Maybe even more striking, Louis thinks, because now he can see the constellation of freckles stretching cross her nose and cheeks, and the candy pink natural color of her lips.

“Hi everyone!” Liam smiles on screen, waving at the camera, “So lately I’ve been getting a lot of comments asking for a really quick and easy way to get a good winged eyeliner in the morning when you’re headed off to school or work or whatever.  Um… like, here’s one,” Liam looks down, presumably thumbing through her phone until she finds what she’s looking for.  (Louis is begrudgingly charmed by the low-tech operation.)

“Okay, here: ‘Liam, I’m always late to my first period class because it takes me forever to do my eye makeup.  I’m a perfectionist, so getting my winged liner to be equal is a nightmare.  Any tips?’”

Louis takes a moment to appreciate how Liam’s nose crinkles slightly as she finishes reading and sets her phone down, “Okay, so I’m going to give you literally the quickest winged liner tutorial ever.  Honestly!  It’ll take you maybe two seconds.  You wanna take your liner – I’m using a felt-tip from NARS,” she holds it up between her pointer and middle finger, “And then… you just put it down, and head out of the house!”

The look on Liam’s face is like she’s just told the funniest joke on Earth and she’s waiting for the reaction, coupled with a healthy dosage of unadulterated earnestness.  She presses her palms together and dips them toward the camera, “ _Honestly,_ it makes me so sad to hear so many of you say that you’re neglecting school and work just to get your makeup right.  Obviously I love makeup – so much that I made it my job! – but there are definitely more important things.  And I am willing to bet that all of you look great even if your eyeliner is uneven, or that you still look gorgeous without any makeup on at all!  And this stuff,” Liam gestures to her side, Louis guesses towards her makeup hoard, “is only here to _enhance_  your natural beauty, not to stress you out!”

Louis is not prepared for the rush of affection he feels for this complete stranger as she makes a final plea to her viewers to ‘remember that they’re beautiful’ and tag her in their #nomakeup selfies on Instagram.  “I promise I’ll like them all!  And I promise I’ll be back next week with an actual tutorial,” Liam laughs, and throws what might be the most endearingly terrible wink Louis’ ever seen at the camera.

She _so_ cheesy.  Louis’ never felt more instantly protective of a person in his life.

In offense to his great instincts, Louis breaks the cardinal rule of YouTube and scrolls down to peruse the comments.  Most are positive, sweet subscribers thanking Liam for her video.  There are a few trolls, most of them bland in their insults, but for some reason they’re making Louis so unreasonably _angry._   He’s only watched two of her videos, but as far as Louis is concerned, Liam is a pure, unbridled ray of sunshine that should never have to confront the horrors of this cruel, unforgiving YouTube world.  (He might be being a bit extreme.)

Some fuckhead’s just left a comment – _this viddoe is idiotic and whoever told u that u looked even remotel good without makeup was an idiot too_

Louis doesn’t stop to think about how he’s still logged into his main account, responding swiftly – _Whomever told your mother it was a good idea to give birth to you was an idiot._

He’ll deal with that in the morning.  (And after he scrolls through Liam’s Twitter and Instagram for a few hours.)

 

+

 

_Happy Monday everyone!  This is Liam, and I hope you all had a lovely weekend._

_I know I promised I’d be back today with a real makeup tutorial, but I’m afraid I am a liar.  I know, I know!  But in hopes of your forgiveness I’m going to do a giveaway for a bunch of new Mac products I got from work.  Stick around to the end of the video to get the details for that!_

_So!  What I’m actually doing today is the Three Minute Makeup Challenge – I was tagged by Eleanor, you can find her over at_ CosmeticCalder _, and she’s actually too beautiful for her own good.  Basically, it sounds like what it is, I’ll get three minutes and have to do a full face of makeup._

 _Before I start and end up looking like a mess, I wanted to tag a couple people in this challenge.  First Zayn, whom you all know and love.  She’s promised me she’ll do a video right after me and post it to her channel, which has been collecting dust since she made it – so watch over at_ niazkilam _.  My second tag goes to Sophia over at_ smithxsophia.

 _My very last tag goes to someone very, very special.  Some of you might have only just found my channel a few days ago when_ TheTommo _subscribed to me.  Well, welcome!  And just to put the various comments to rest, no we’re not dating.  I’ve never even met him before, although I am a big fan!  Never knew he had an interest in makeup, though!  So I figured I’d put his cosmetic skills to the test and challenge him to the Three Minute Makeup Challenge!  Let me know if you need any advice, Louis!_

_Alright, here we go!_

“You’ve watched that video like… five times by now.”

“Cheers, Harry,” Louis mumbles, his face half-pressed into the couch cushion he’s resting on, “Thanks for your input.”

It’s not true, though.  Louis hasn’t watched Liam’s latest video five times.  It’s more like… eleven times.  Once for content, once to watch more closely, once to make sure she really just asked him to do a makeup challenge, another time to admire the way her eyes had crinkled when she said ‘let me know if you need any advice, Louis!’ and then seven more times just because.  From what Louis understands, the Three Minute Makeup Challenge is actually quite difficult, but every time he watches the it, Liam finishes the video with a perfectly made face, no different-looking to Louis from any of her other videos.

His smart-ass comment on her previous video seems to have slid by a bit unnoticed, except maybe he’s got a few more angry messages in his inbox than usual.  But who’s counting.  Louis rewinds the video to the exact point he’s replayed at least twenty times – _I am a big fan!_

“Oi, Harry!” Louis pulls himself up from the couch and goes to check the time on his watch before remembering he’s never worn a watch in his life, “We’re filming tonight!  Get me some makeup.”

 

+

 

_\--and Harry’s wonderful sister Gemma was kind enough to donate some makeup to my noble cause.  Therefore, I gladly accept the Three Minute Makeup Challenge from my new friend Liam.  Are we friends now?  I’m about to stab myself in the eye with this contraption – what could these even be used for – anyway, if that’s not friendship, then I just don’t know what is.  So cheers to that!  Harry… start the clock._

By the time he’s finished, Louis looks every bit the disaster Liam anticipated he would be.  He may have been playing it up for the camera – his is a comedy channel after all – but Liam can’t say she minds, pausing the video so she can screencap the final product of his efforts.  Dark blue eyeshadow smeared across his lids and under his eyes like a cartoon bruise, the darkest, pinkest blush in two nearly perfect circles on the apples of his cheeks, a gash of purple lipstick following the line of his lips up his cheek – Liam doesn’t think she’s ever laughed so hard in her life, tears pricking her eyes.

Thank god she wore her waterproof mascara.

 

+

 

 

 

+

 

“I’m going to barf.”

“Rude!”

Niall cackles, moving to catch the tube of lipstick that Liam’s chucked at him and missing spectacularly.  It smacks against his cheek but does nothing to dampen his laughter, “Sorry, mate, but watching you flirt in person is hard enough.  Online is even worse.”

Liam groans into her hands, getting up to fetch her lipstick, “I’m not trying to flirt!  Or… maybe I am… I don’t know, I’m too flustered to make a decision either way!”

“What does ‘semi-colon x’ mean?” Zayn’s scrolling through Liam’s Twitter, maintaining her reputation as the worst wing-woman in history, retweeting every other tweet of Liam’s and adding “#crushexposed.”

“It’s a face, Zayn.”

“What is it supposed to mean, like.”

“I dunno,” Liam moans, “That I’m flirty but I’m ashamed about it.”

Zayn raises her eyebrows, never taking her eyes of her phone, “So you _were_ trying to flirt.”

Liam just tosses the newly-retrieved tube of lipstick at Zayn this time, who catches it without even looking up.  Liam _definitely_  needs to get some new friends.

It’s been a… strange couple of days.  Ever since Louis’ response to her challenge, he and Liam have been tweeting each other, more and more every day.  The amount of hate mail from Louis’ more, er, earnest subscribers has been frustrating, but the amount of subs and kind words Liam’s gotten has been staggering.

“So how do we keep this going, hm?” Niall says, adjusting his glasses, “You’ve got a good upward trend here, but being friends with a well-known YouTuber can only get you so far.”

“Give me back my glasses you wanker,” Zayn says, flicking the poor lipstick at him.  This time Niall actually catches it, and tosses Zayn’s glasses back at her.

“They do look better on you, I have to admit.” He says solemnly.

“Of course they do,” She says, grinning at him.

Liam’s eager to keep her subscriber count growing, but it’s… more than that.  She wants to keep having an excuse to talk to Louis, something beyond clipped conversations over Twitter, “I should challenge him.  Again.”

“To what?”

“I don’t know, some other YouTube challenge!  Something funny, he’ll have to respond, it was a big hit for him last time!”

Niall pouts thoughtfully, “Could be good, maybe you two could have your own challenge war.  Y’know, back and forth.”

“I have a feeling I’ll be dragged into this either way,” Zayn hums, “So I’m in.”

“Strictly, uh, for the channel!  And… such,” Liam mumbles, busying herself with opening a package with some samples a sponsor had sent over.  A new sponsor, who had contacted her once she finally reached 10,000 subscribers.

It’s a lie: she knows it, Zayn knows it, Niall knows it.  Hell, Louis probably knows it, can tell what a fangirl she is from how flustered she gets every time he Tweets her.  But there’s not much she can do about that know.

Who knew her crush would be so good for business?

 

+

 

It only takes Louis a couple weeks to realize that Liam is the most infuriating kind of person there is.

She tags him in the Blindfolded Makeup Challenge – she does up Zayn with a blindfold on, and Louis responds by making up a reluctant Harry – and, what do you know, even with a blindfold on, Liam manages to make Zayn look even more beautiful.  By the time Louis is done, Harry looks like a weeping circus clown.

Louis does the cinnamon challenge and tags Liam – he completely fails, turning into some kind of cinnamon-breathing dragon the moment he opens his mouth.  Liam, however, actually succeeds.  “The trick is just to keep your mouth closed the whole time!” She says.  Moreover, she does a full face of makeup while swallowing the cinnamon.

The Chubby Bunny Challenge – Liam wins.  The Cotton Ball Challenge – Liam wins.  The 7 Second Challenge – Liam completes every task with seconds to spare.  Even the Saltine Challenge – Liam completes it like it’s nothing.

Liam and Louis take to tagging each other, back and forth, in various, pretty superfluous challenges.  And it’s not _technically_  a contest, although their mutual subscribers are definitely keeping track, and Liam is definitely winning.

Liam is perfect, and Louis has never been angrier in his life.

“Nobody’s actually perfect,” Harry says, like a wise old godmother that Louis never asked for, “And even if she was, wouldn’t that be a good thing?”  Louis knows that Harry’s just teasing him.  They both know how much Louis hates to be beaten at anything, even if it’s just a stupid YouTube challenge.

Except, Louis isn’t quite as mad about it as he’s pretending he is.  Liam is infuriating, that’s for sure, but it has nothing to do with her odd ability to hold nearly thirty marshmallows in her mouth.  (Well, maybe a little bit.)  It has more to do with the cheerful way she greets him when they talk online, the earnestness with which she replies to nearly every single comment on every single one of her videos, even as she passes 12,000 subscribers.  It’s the way most of her videos are still filmed on an old camera she borrows from a classmate, and how when she does manage to get proper equipment she celebrates with extra-long videos, answering questions from her Twitter followers.  She’s so kind, so sweet, so unadulterated in her intentions.  Louis doesn’t even know much about Liam, really.  From talking to her on Twitter he knows that she’s a uni student studying business; that she has two sisters and a dog at home; that she wishes she could pull off purple lipstick.  He knows that she’s effortlessly interesting, and she doesn’t even know it.

“Harrrryyyyy,” Louis moans, burying his face a couch cushion.  He seems to be finding himself doing that quite a lot lately.

“Oh, Louis,” Harry rubs his back, the space between his shoulder blades, “You’re in deep, aren’t you?”

It’s true.  “She’s… way too good for me.”

Harry laughs, “Probably.  But I don’t think she knows that yet.”

Which means there’s hope for him yet.

 

+

 

At least once a month, Niall performs at a local pub, a rag-tag band performing surprisingly-good covers of well-known songs.  A lot of boy band classics; Niall’s always had a huge soft spot for his boy bands.

Liam and Zayn, the dutiful friends they are, always attend, and always get sloshed together, and usually go home afterwards record a drunken makeup tutorial together that they say they’re going to post, but never do, because Niall always comes to tuck them into bed, stopping the video upload and pressing a kiss to each of their foreheads before leaving.  It’s a sacred tradition.

Except for that tonight, Niall had decided, was apparently the perfect time for him to confess his undying and less-than-secret love for Zayn.  He dedicates a particularly sappy JLS song to her in front of the entire bar, after which Zayn had darted off without a word.  Liam figures they’re either arguing or furiously making out backstage.  Probably both.

Which leaves her alone at the bar, something wholly unfamiliar to her.  She’s about to throw in the towel and just head home when –

“Fancy meeting you here,” Liam doesn’t need to turn around to know that it’s Louis behind her – she’d recognize that voice anywhere.

“Fancy, indeed,” She smiles, swiveling around on her barstool in a way that’s supposed to be sexy, except half of Liam’s drink goes spilling on the floor, “Oh.”

Louis apparently finds it hilarious, “Don’t worry, I’ll buy you a new one,” He motions for the bartender to bring them two more beers, “Although it really is a bit strange to just be running into you, you know.  Never knew about you until a few week ago, and now you’re a right pain in me arse.”

“Ha!  Well, you’ve been a worthy opponent, but what can I say,” Liam levels Louis with a serious gaze, “I’m the master of meaningless internet challenges.”

A smile spreads across Louis’ face, slow and sure, “Would the master of meaningless internet challenges be free to get some air with me?  It’s a bit stuffy in here.”

Liam’s grabbed her beer and is halfway out the door before Louis can even finish his question.

 

As much as Louis wishes it was fate that brought him to the exact pub where Liam happened to be sitting alone at the bar, that’s very far from the truth.  It’s the fifth pub he’s been to that night, and he almost doesn’t see her, hidden behind a massive, rowdy crowd.  Liam looks like an oasis in a sea of sand; Louis parts his way between two massive blokes having a row about something idiotic and sees her, sitting so placidly, nursing her drink.

Liam looks even lovelier in person.  Which is probably because now Louis can see how _real_ she is.  She’s not just a robot of perfection created to taunt him, or some unreachable dream-like vision.  She’s flesh and blood, just like him.

“You look awfully thoughtful over there.”

Louis startles, turning to look at Liam, who’s leaning against the brick wall of the outside of the bar.  He laughs, “Sorry, getting lost in m’ own thoughts I guess.  I should’ve asked you how your night was going.”

Liam takes a larger swig of her beer than Louis would have expected, “Alright, I suppose.  My two best mates are probably shagging backstage.  Or killing each other, I’m not ever quite sure how to read them.”

“Sounds like we’re in the same boat then,” Louis laughs, “I lost Harry at the last bar I was at.  Snogging some bloke he used to go out with.”

“Cheers,” Liam mumbles, a small smile on her face, “How come I’ve never ran into you here before?”

“Ah, well.  I was banned for a bit.  Did an old prank here, one of my first.”

“I know,” Liam laughs again, a bit of nervousness seeping in, “The one where you switched the ‘pull’ and ‘push’ signs on the door.”

God, Louis used to be so lame, “A classic.”

“It’s, uh.  It’s the reason I started coming here, actually.  After I watched that video.  Then Niall started doing sets here and it became our usual joint.  I guess I figured I’d see you here or something.”

Louis’ eyebrows shoot up his forehead, and he looks over at Liam, attempting to catch her gaze.  He notes that she’s actually the slightest bit taller than him; he has to look up to find her eyes, hidden under her bangs, “Well I would’ve come back a lot sooner if I’d known you were here waiting for me.”

His heart nearly explodes when Liam flashes him a megawatt smile, “You know, you’re not as intimidating as I always thought you’d be.”

“Me?” Louis feigns surprise, “Intimidating?  Well, I never.”

Liam rolls her eyes, “Come off it, I’m sure people tell you that all the time.”

“Maybe,” Louis shrugs, “You, on the other hand, are definitely as intimidating as I thought you’d be.”

“Me?!” Liam giggles, her eyes squinting and shoulders shrugging, “Why would I be intimidating?”

“Dunno!  You just are.  Just a bit.”

Liam furrows her eyebrows, “It definitely has something to do with the inordinately large amount of marshmallows I can fit in my mouth.”

Louis doesn’t think he’s ever laughed so hard in his life.

 

+

 

 

+

Louis’ studio – or, rather, the area he’s designated for filming – is much, much nicer than where Liam usually films her videos.  That’s probably because Louis’ area is actually set up, reflectors positioned just-so to create the perfect lighting.  They’re in a clean and white corner of Louis and Harry’s apartment.  Liam feels far away from her own ‘studio’ – whichever area of her dorm Niall deems the most appropriate at the time

“Bit intimidating,” Liam mumbles, a leg of one of the stools Louis has set up with the toe of her boot.

Louis is situating the camera, “I have been told I’m quite intimidating,” he tosses Liam a grin and she returns a withering look.

“So what’re we doing?” Liam takes her place on one of the stools, crossing her ankles, “You were being quite secretive about the whole thing.”

“Nothing too crazy,” Louis says, finishing with the camera.  Liam sees the recording light go on, “Just a short video.  It’s another challenge but you have to have two people.”

“Well,” Liam runs her hands down her thighs, smoothing out the wrinkles on her maxi skirt, “I’ve done pretty well with all your other challenges, so bring it on!”

A bark of a laugh, “That you have, Liam.  Here,” he passes her headphones and an iPod, before sitting down next to her and turning towards the camera.  He introduces himself and explains the challenge they’re doing today – the Whisper Challenge.  Liam stutters a bit when he turns to her and asks her to introduce herself.  She feels like an idiot, but it’s so… mesmerizing.

It’s like Louis becomes a completely different person in front of the camera.  Not in a bad way, just in a way that catches Liam completely off-guard, seeing it from behind the scenes like this.  It’s strange to apply a word like ‘professional’ to a guy who gets paid to make prank videos on YouTube, but it’s true.  He knows what he’s doing.  And Liam has no idea.

All the sudden she feels very out of place, like she’s not supposed to be there at all.  Not in Louis’ apartment, not in his videos, not in his life at all.

“Liam?” Louis’ voice is small and uncharacteristically careful when he reaches out to brush a bit of hair off of Liam’s shoulder.

“U-Um,” Liam looks up, and is almost taken aback by the bright, clear blue of Louis’ eyes.  They’re a bit unnatural, she thinks.  Under the clear, precise lighting they look beautiful but just the slightest bit wrong.  Like they don’t belong either, just like her.  But they remain anyway, and it calms Liam.  That, and the warmth of Louis’ hand, still perched on her shoulder.

He smiles down at her, “You good?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Liam plugs the earbuds in her ears and presses play, lets the music drown out everything, “I’m good now!” She nearly yells, over the music, and she can’t hear it but she can see Louis laugh.

The premise of the challenge is that one person puts in headphones and plays some music, and the other person whispers a message at them.  The first person has to attempt to read their lips to get the message.  Simple enough, but Liam’s always been a bit shit at reading lips.

She turns to face Louis and he does the same, their knees knocking together.  He’s already saying something, “Uh… Red tree?  Oh, ready!  Oh, you’re just asking if I’m ready!  Yeah I’m good!”

Louis starts out reading some comments from subscribers, and Liam gets them easily enough because they’re all simple things like “What lipstick is that?” or “I love this video.”  She’s feeling a bit triumphant – another challenge dominated by Liam Payne! – until Louis sets the index cards he was holding to the side and grins at her.  That can’t be good.

His lips start moving.  “Wheel… um, oh!  Will you,” Liam parses, “Will you… go… out… with… _oh_.” Liam feels her face go red, the tips of her ears burning, “Is this a prank?  Are you fucking with me?”

Louis looks torn between looking apologetic and amused, “I’ll have to edit that bit out,” he mumbles, “ _No_ , Liam, I’m not messing with you.” His eyes are soft, “Although, you’re gonna lose the challenge if you don’t finish guessing what I said.”

Difficult as usual, Liam thinks.  “Will you go out with me?” She finishes, unable to keep the smile off her face, although she’d never even try to, “Happy now?”

“Well, Liam, I thought you’d never ask,” Louis smiles back.  Not his camera-ready smile, just a small, private smile, before leaning forward and gently pressing his lips against Liam’s.

Liam feels like her entire body is floating, “Will you edit this part out, too?” She mumbles, lips grazing against Louis’ as she speaks.

Louis grins, “But of course.”

(He doesn’t end up editing it out, but Liam can’t say that she minds.)

**Author's Note:**

> come talk 2 me on [tumblr](politicaal.tumblr.com) or [twitter](twitter.com/isthiswinnie) if you'd like!


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